Tally Tots XI

“What do you mean, I have more girls to watch?!?!?!” Zubin gapes at Ross.

“I think he means that there are a couple of girls are moving in,” Joe giggles as he peers through a pair of binoculars. The boys are camping out in Rob’s room because it is the closest to the house that the new neighbors are currently moving in to. The view from Rob’s window provides a good, if somewhat distant, view of the happenings.

“Yeah, you were pretty obsessed with that one girl,” Rob joins in while snatching the binoculars from Joe and pushing his way to the best view point.

“Bu…bu…but, Joe was the one that kissed her,” Zubin stutters in disbelief. He looks around to see if someone will support him.

“HEY! She was the one that kissed me,” Joe glares at Zubin.

“But you sure enjoyed it, from what I remember,” Andrew points out.

“I…did…not,” Joe mumbles as he turns as red as his t-shirt.

“Anyway, there are two of them,” Rob continues his watch.

Eventually, the boys get shooed out of the house to enjoy the beautiful day. They head to the park. Tag runs ragged all over the place. Suddenly Zubin stops short and Joe crashes into him. Staring at Zubin across the grass is a set of twins. They grin at him. He looks back, confused and somehow unable to move. Joe brushes himself off. Andrew, Rob, and Ross come over to see what stopped their game. The two girls make their way over to the boys.

“Hey,” one of them says shyly. Her sister just gives a little wave.

“Hey, wanna play some tag?” Zubin sounds almost hopeful.

“Uh, okay,” the twins agree in unison.

The game of tag once more becomes out of control. There is plenty of giggling from the girls and raucous laughter from the boys. Not too long into it, however, the girls trip over each other. The result is a matching pair of scraped knees. Tears fill their eyes. Sniffling quickly follows. The boys don’t even seem to notice as they continue to chase each other around. The tears start to stream down their faces and the twins stick out their lower lips while they whimper.

Zubin happens to look over. He slows down before heading over to where the girls are sitting. He examines the scrapes while the girls just sit there, crying. He gives them a small smile and pulls two band-aids out of his pocket. After he ever so carefully places a bandage over each knee, Zubin grins at them in hopes of cheering them up. The two girls give two more big sniffs before they tentatively returned his smile.

“Th-thank you,” one of the sisters hiccups in response to Zubin’s good deed.

“I’m Zubin,” he introduces himself.

“I’m Mary Kate and this is my sister, Ashley,” the girl returns the favor.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Zubin repeats the line that he was told to say whenever he met someone new to be polite.